Several weeks ago, I went down to St. Louis to visit my dad, and help my cousin move into his dorm at Washington University. We then picked up Pappy’s BBQ for lunch and stopped by Rockwell for a beer, and to see my fraternity brother who is the brewmaster there. I got a chance to catch up with him for a bit and he grabbed a few beers for me to bring home. As the weather here cools down, I thought this would be a great fall beer to enjoy.
Location: Poured into a pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 7.6% ABV, 24 IBUs, ~280 Calories
Ingredients: Malt: Pilsner, Munich, Caramunich III, Carafa Special II; Hops: Magnum, Hersbrucker; Yeast: German Bock
Appearance & Aroma: It’s deep, dark brown in color with some brownish-ruby highlights when held up to the light. It has a woody aroma with a dark malty small with hints of light roastiness.
Taste & Feel: The body is light and smooth, but a bit crisp from the carbonation. Up front, there’s a bit of a lightly roasted malt flavor with some caramel undertones. In the middle, there’s a bit of earthiness mixed with roasty and lightly sweet malts and hints of dark chocolate. In the finish, an earthy and roasty bitterness rises up to take over the sweetness, but the dark chocolate and toffee flavors come in right behind it. The roasty bitterness and dark malt flavors last a few minutes in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: I think the perfect pairing for this beer would be a burger. The earthy, malty, and roasty flavors would be a great contrast to the savory flavors of the burger, and I’d add mushrooms and onions to the burger to tie it together with the earthy and sweet flavors.
Overall Impression: I really enjoyed how this beer captured the woody aroma of the foeder, and I thought it had some nice roasty flavors. It was a bit dry/attenuated, and I think it needs to be paired with some savory and salty food to really enjoy it. Overall, I thought it was a great fall beer that might be a better food pairing this time a year than Oktoberfest.
My Rating: 
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